1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cellular telecommunications, particularly to a method, a system, and a corresponding Mobile Switching Center (MSC) for reporting to a Message Center (MC) the periodic broadcast SMS capability of the MSC.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the history of telecommunications networks, the cellular telecommunications networks are one of the most recent. Cellular or wireless telecommunications networks allow subscribers to carry out various types of wireless communications independently of their actual location. At the present time, cellular telecommunications networks support various types of communications such as voice communications, data communications (fax, modem), and text communications (email and Short Message Service, SMS). In this last category, the subscribers can send text emails and SMS messages to each other directly from their Mobile Station (MS) or from a dedicated terminal, such as an internet-connected PC. Text communications over the cellular telecommunications network only require a limited amount of transmission capacity. Therefore, particularly SMS communications are considered a suitable means for broadcasting commercial text messages to a community of subscribers, defined either as a group of subscribers set up according to some pre-arranged relation between the subscribers, or as a geographically-related group of subscribers. Broadcasting text communications may be extensively used for advertising by commercial companies for sending text advertisements to a community of cellular subscribers. In such cases, commercial companies want the commercial message to reach as many subscribers as possible, and one way of insuring maximum distribution is to repeat the broadcast of the message a number of times. In this manner, subscribers who were not available to receive the first message at a first moment (because the MS was powered down, they were out of the coverage area, etc), could be reached by a subsequent distribution of the same commercial message.
In such a scenario, first, the periodic broadcast SMS message is typically created by a message originator and fed into a Message Center (MC), which is a dedicated node in the cellular telecommunications networks that manages and distributes all SMS messages. Initiating a periodic broadcast SMS message typically requires the creation of a message body of limited length, a destination identification (such as a subscriber group identification or an identification of a geographical area of broadcast that may include MSCs identification or sectors thereof), a start time at which the first broadcast is to be performed, a broadcast duration and a repetition rate of the broadcast SMS message. The SMS message is then sent to one or more MSCs corresponding to the broadcast area. In the case of geographical distribution, the MC sends the periodic broadcast SMS to MSCs within the geographical broadcast area. In the case of distribution to a subscriber group, the MC typically sends the periodic broadcast SMS to all MSCs within the service area, and the message is received by all MSs. However, only the intended destination subscribers"" MSs (such as for example the MSs of the particular group of subscribers) are able to decipher and display the SMS message.
In current ANSI-41 cellular telecommunications networks, it is proposed to have either all MSCs within a given service area to handle the periodic broadcast SMS messages on their own (the periodic broadcast SMS is received once from the MC to the MSC, and the MSC handles the periodic distribution of the message to destination, hereinafter called xe2x80x9cfirst scenario for periodic broadcasting SMSxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cfirst scenarioxe2x80x9d), or to have the MC of the given service area to handle all such messages (the MC periodically sends a request for regular broadcast SMS to the MSCs which simply forwards upon receipt the message body to destination, hereinafter called xe2x80x9cthe second scenario for periodic broadcasting SMSxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csecond scenarioxe2x80x9d). In the future, it is believed that more and more MSCs will have the feature of handling the periodic broadcast SMS messages on their own, and therefore, the first scenario would become predominant, i.e. cellular telephone operators will set-up network configurations supporting only the first scenario.
However, both proposed implementations contain several drawbacks. In the first scenario, wherein the MSCs record the message and carries the periodic broadcast SMS on their own, it is believed that in some circumstances the MSCs are still not able to perform reliable delivery of the SMS messages. For example, certain MSCs have no capability to directly handle the periodic broadcast SMS during particular periods of time, such as for example because they are too overloaded with handling regular traffic to be able to assume this extra work immediately. This situation may lead to certain limitations in the distribution of periodic broadcast SMSs. In some instances, if the MSC""s resources are already in use at a maximum extent, the broadcast request may be unduly delayed. Furthermore, especially if the requested repetition rate of the periodic broadcast SMS is high (the repetition interval is short), accepting to deliver a periodic broadcast SMS may lead to an excessive overload situation for the MSC""s resources and have a negative impact on handling regular calls.
In the second scenario, wherein the MC handles the periodic broadcast SMS, the MC keeps all periodic broadcast SMSs in its memory until the repetition duration expires, and handles all such broadcasts on its own by periodically sending regular broadcast SMS messages to the MSC for further distribution to the MS subscribers (the MSC receives a regular broadcast SMS request rather than a periodic broadcast request as in the first scenario and only forwards the message body to the subscribers"" MSs upon receipt of the request). This is not optimal, since this scenario will quickly lead to an overload of the MC""s resources and especially to increased traffic between the MC and the MSC (the broadcast SMS message must be sent a number of times from the MC to the MSC, instead of being sent only once).
It would be advantageous to have an interaction mechanism allowing the MC and its co-operating MSCs to communicate to each other to determine who will handle a particular periodic broadcast SMS.
In particular, there is an advantage to have an MSC notifying the MC, upon receipt of one particular request for a periodic broadcast SMS, whether or not the MSC will handle the periodic broadcast on its own (the MSC will periodically broadcast the SMS to the destination subscribers without MC""s collaboration), or if it will require assistance from the MC (the MC will send the SMS periodically to the MSC, and the MSC will forward the SMS to the destination subscribers).
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism allowing the MSC to notify the MC whether or not it will handle a periodic broadcast SMS on its own, upon receipt of a periodic broadcast SMS request from the MC.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for delivering a periodic broadcast SMS request from an MC to a plurality of MSCs, and to receive back at the MC an indication of the individual capability of each MSC to handle the request on its own, i.e. to periodically deliver the SMS message to MSs according to the request without further cooperation of the MC.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an MSC capable of detecting and informing its co-operating MC whether or not it will handle a periodic broadcast SMS request on its own, upon receipt of such request from the MC, based on a current level of utilized resources of the MSC.
In accord with the objects of the invention, and as a foremost improvement over the prior art first scenario, there is provided a method for periodic broadcast Short Message Service (SMS) comprising the steps of:
sending a request for a periodic broadcast SMS message from a Message Center (MC) to at least one Mobile Switching Center (MSC);
upon receipt of said request by said MSC, detecting a capability of said MSC to handle periodic broadcast SMS messages; and
returning, from said MSC to said MC, an indication of said capability of said MSC to handle periodic broadcast SMS messages.
In accordance with the objects of the present invention, there is further provided, in an ANSI-41 cellular telecommunications network, a method for periodically broadcasting Short Message Service (SMS) messages comprising the steps of:
sending a request for periodic broadcast Short Message service (SMS) through a Short Message Delivery Point-to-Point (SMDPP) message from an SMS originator to a Message Center (MC) for requesting a periodic broadcast SMS, said SMDPP message comprising:
a message body to be broadcast to a plurality of MSs;
a periodicity parameter comprising a start time, a duration and a repetition rate of said periodic broadcast SMS message; and
a destination identifier comprising at least one of i) a geographical zone identifier designating a zone over which the message is to be broadcast and ii) a subscribers"" group identifier designating a group of subscribers"" MSs intended to receive said SMS message;
sending said SMDPP message from said MC to at least one Mobile Switching Center (MSC) covering at least a portion of said zone; and
returning, from said at least one MSC to said MC, an smdpp acknowledgement message comprising an indication of an individual capability of said at least one MSC to handle on its own the periodic broadcast SMS;
wherein if said MSC is capable of handling said periodic broadcast SMS, said indication is an empty smdpp acknowledgement message, while if said MSC is not capable of handling the periodic SMS broadcast, the indication is comprised in one parameter of said smdpp acknowledgement message.
According to yet another object of the invention, there is also provided a cellular telecommunications network comprising:
a Message Center (MC) sending a request for a periodic broadcast Short Message Service (SMS) message; and
at least one Mobile Switching Center (MSC) linked to said MC, receiving said request from said MC;
wherein upon receipt of said request, said MSC detects its capability of handling periodic broadcast SMS messages on its own and replies back to the MC with an indication of said capability.
There is another object of the invention to provide in a cellular telecommunications network, a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) receiving a request for a periodic broadcast Short Message Service (SMS) through a Short Message Service Delivery Point-to-Point (SMDPP) message from a Message Center (MC), wherein upon receipt of said request the MSC detects its capability of handling said request based on a current load on its processing resources, and replies back to the MC with an smdpp acknowledgement message comprising an indication of its capability of handling said request on its own.
According to yet another object of the invention, there is provided a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) comprising:
a resources meter for collecting at least one parameter representative of a level of utilized resources of said MSC; and
a periodic broadcast SMS capability detector for receiving said at least one parameter from said resources meter and for comparing said parameter with a pre-defined threshold of utilized resources;
wherein said detector issues a decision based on a result of the comparison, the decision stating whether or not said MSC is to handle a periodic broadcast SMS request on its own.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the forthcoming detailed description.